Despite the fact that it’s directed by Tom Tykwer, based on a book by Dave Eggers, and stars Tom Hanks, A Hologram for the King came and went earlier this year without making so much as a ripple. It made a paltry $4 million in U.S. theaters and scored a so-so 71% on Rotten Tomatoes — neither good nor bad enough to make people wonder. Heck, our review of it was titled There’s a Tom Hanks Movie in Theaters and You Didn’t Even Know About It.

But now that it’s made its way to home video, you’ll have another chance to check it out. And that seems like as good an excuse as any to check out a longer version of the film’s first and best sequence, a partially animated fantasy from Austrian animation studio NÖT. It’s weird and colorful and feels kind of desperate, in a way that really suits the movie. Watch the A Hologram for the King opening sequence, which features a cartoon Tom Hanks and a choreographed dance sequence, below. Read More »

Tom Hanks stars in a movie currently in theaters, but you might not be able to tell judging by the absence of advertising, much less critical buzz, for A Hologram for the King. Tom Tykwer‘s gentle (and often lovely) adaptation of Dave Egger‘s novel of the same name was recently released into a few hundred theaters, and it was met with somewhat mixed reviews and an underwhelming opening weekend at the box office, even by its own modest standards.

How exactly does a movie that stars Tom Hanks manage to fly so far under the radar for the general public? Is the film simply not commercial enough? Maybe, but whatever the case, it’s still a little disheartening to see a fine drama with a name like Hanks attached to it fail to reach a wide audience.

Tom Tykwer‘s last movie was one of the stranger things Tom Hanks has ever done. Cloud Atlas, co-directed by the Wachowskis, had Hanks playing a number of different roles spanning genres, continents, and centuries. It was an intriguing reminder that Hanks, who could easily coast on popularity and charisma at this point, is still the kind of actor who takes risks. Now the pair have teamed up again for A Hologram for the King, a more ordinary-looking adventure — though to be fair, pretty much everything looks ordinary compared to Cloud Atlas.

Based on the novel by Dave Eggers, A Hologram for the King stars Hanks as a struggling American businessman. In a desperate attempt to save himself, he jets off to Saudi Arabia to score a potentially massive deal. At first he’s disoriented by his unfamiliar new surroundings, but eventually this strange new land helps him rediscover himself. Watch the first A Hologram for the King trailer below.

We haven’t heard much about A Hologram for the King over the past two years, which is when we got our first look at Tom Hanks in the film. Tom Tykwer‘s adaptation of Dave Eggers‘ novel began shooting in March of 2014. It was surprising when the film didn’t premiere at any major film festivals last year, but perhaps Tykwer was afforded the right amount of time to properly finish his upcoming project.

A Hologram for the King will soon be released, though, and a German trailer for the film has hit the web, in addition to a slew of new photos, which you can check out below.

That shot above is the first desolate look at Tom Hanks in A Hologram for the King, which is the new film from Tom Tykwer. Hanks had a big role in Tykwer’s last film, too, which was the Wachowski siblings collaboration Cloud Atlas. Hanks’ company Playtone produced this new movie, along with a couple other companies, and it is being shown to distributors at Cannes. Read More »

Some of the Cloud Atlas team is coming back together for another literary adaptation. Tom Hanks and Tom Tykwer are teaming up to adapt A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers. Hanks and his company Playtone will produce, and Hanks will star, while Tykwer will produce and direct. (Presumably he could do the film’s music, as well.)

The book, which the New York Times called “a globalized Death of a Salesman,” follows a struggling American businessman who attempts to mount a plan for personal and financial salvation in a Saudi Arabian city. Read More »